(2010). The Gown and the Korowai: Maori Doctoral Students and the Spatial Organisation of Academic Knowledge. Higher Education Research and Development, v29 n3 p229-243 Jun. This paper draws on 38 student interviews carried out in the course of the team research project "Teaching and Learning in the Supervision of Maori Doctoral Students". Maori doctoral thesis work takes place in the intersections between the Maori (tribal) world of identifications and obligations, the organisational and epistemological configurations of academia and the bureaucratic requirements of funding or employing bureaucracies. To explore how students accommodate cultural, academic and bureaucratic demands, we develop analytical tools combining three intellectual traditions: Maori educational theory, Bernstein's sociology of the academy and Lefebvre's conceptual trilogy of perceived, conceived and lived space. The paper falls into six parts. Section 1 is an overview of the research and is followed in Section 2 by identification of intersecting "locations" in which Maori students' theses are produced. In Section 3, Henri Lefebvre's spatial analysis highlights… [Direct]
(2012). An Analysis of Taiwanese Aboriginal Students' Educational Aspirations. Higher Education Studies, v2 n2 p79-99 Jun. By analysing the national data from the Junior Survey of the Taiwan Higher Education Dataset, this study identified significant variables influencing the educational aspirations of aboriginal students at technical and vocational institutions. The study shows that several variables are predictive of the educational aspirations of aboriginal students. Institutional types, more weekly hours of lessons, more time spent on assignment preparation and revision, a higher maternal educational level, a higher GPA, a keen participation in autonomous, academic, or extramural club activities, and a higher self-rating of interpersonal skills are all associated with higher educational aspirations. In contrast, being a female student and a keen participant in musical and sports club activities are associated with lower educational aspirations. Recommendations to improve Taiwanese aboriginal students' educational aspirations are discussed…. [PDF]
(2012). Gender, Masculinities and Lifelong Learning. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group "Gender, Masculinities and Lifelong Learning" reflects on current debates and discourses around gender and education, in which some academics, practitioners and policy-makers have referred to a crisis of masculinity. This book explores questions such as: Are men under-represented in education? Are women outstripping men in terms of achievement? What evidence supports the view that men are becoming educationally disadvantaged? Drawing on research from a number of countries, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the contributors' discuss a range of issues which intersect with gender to impact on education, including structural factors such as class, ethnicity and age as well as colonisation and migration. The book provides evidence and argument to illuminate contemporary debates about the involvement of men and women in education, including: (1) The impact of colonisation on the gendering of education and lifelong learning; (2) International surveys on men,… [Direct]
(2012). Supporting Teachers' Professional Learning at a Distance: A Model for Change in At-Risk Contexts. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, v37 n6 p12-28 Jun. This paper examines the effectiveness of a professional learning model developed to support early years teachers in rural and remote communities in Queensland as they began to implement the Australian Curriculum in Mathematics. The data are drawn from 35 teachers at the initial stage of a large, four year longitudinal study RoleM (Representations, oral language and engagement in Mathematics). The particular aims of the longitudinal study are to (a) identify effective pedagogical practices that may assist young Indigenous Australian students to negotiate Western mathematical understanding, and (b) investigate professional learning models that best support teachers within this context. The data was collected throughout the first year of the study. The findings indicate that as the year progressed participating teachers experienced significant and positive changes in: a) their attitudes, beliefs and pedagogical practices in relation to teaching mathematics; b) their expectations of… [PDF]
(2008). Diversifying Pedagogy. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, v25 n5 p18-20 Apr. Indigenous or native ways of knowing, indigenous knowledge, indigenous science, traditional ecological knowledge are terms that have been making their way out of tribal colleges and into mainstream universities in recent years. According to Dr. Dawn Adrian Adams, Choctaw, founder of Tapestry Institute, these terms refer to two separate, yet intertwined endeavors, epistemology or types of knowledge and pedagogy, methods of teaching and learning. Indigenous ways of knowing (IWOK) often uses stories to engage learners and emphasizes the notion of community in the process. Strictly speaking, IWOK is focused on the process of learning rather than the outcome and emphasizes the holistic understanding of a topic or situation. Yet, this method of teaching has its critics. Critics of such knowledge systems claim that they conflict with the positivist heritage of science. However, those working within indigenous knowledge frameworks maintain that there are far more commonalities with Western… [Direct]
(2011). "Ahakoa He Iti": Early Childhood Pedagogies Affirming of Maori Children's Rights to Their Culture. Early Education and Development, v22 n5 p795-817. Research Findings: This paper considers the position of tamariki Maori, the indigenous children of Aotearoa (a Maori name for New Zealand), in relation to the impact of colonization on their rights, including a focus on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the current educational policy arena. It then provides an explication of a Maori perspective of "tika" and "tikanga", Maori rights as enacted through a Maori worldview. We then proceed to offer some illustrations from our recent research projects in Aotearoa New Zealand of ways in which teachers are engaging with "tamariki" and "whanau" Maori (Maori children and families) in endeavors that give expression to pedagogical enactment respectful and reflective of "tikanga" Maori (values and cultural practices). Practice or Policy: It is concluded that there are possibilities for early childhood pedagogies that enable a re-narrativizing of Maori ways of… [Direct]
(2011). An Agenda to Strengthen Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, v10 n2 p7-23 Jul. Over the last two decades in many countries, culturally responsive, multicultural and bilingual approaches to teaching have largely been replaced by standardised curricula and pedagogy, rooted in a political shift toward neoliberalism that has pushed business models of school reform. I argue that neoliberal reforms, by negating the central importance of context, culture and racism, are reversing the empowered learning that culturally responsive pedagogy supports. To address these problems, I argue that educators who work with culturally responsive pedagogy must engage in three areas. First, a persistence of faulty and simplistic conceptions of what culturally responsive pedagogy is must be directly confronted and replaced with more complex and accurate views. Second, the research base that connects culturally responsive pedagogy with student learning must be strengthened. Third, the political backlash from work that empowers minoritised communities must be anticipated and addressed…. [PDF]
(2009). "Clean, Clad and Courteous" Revisited: A Review History of 200 Years of Aboriginal Education in New South Wales. Journal of Negro Education, v78 n1 p83-94 Win. The state of New South Wales has, over a period of two centuries, tried policies ranging from indifference, segregation and protection, through assimilation and compensatory programs to the present era where some believe self-determination and self-management will provide answers to education problems due to lack of consultation, inappropriate curriculums, unsupportive environments, racial stereotyping, and discrimination. This article reviews the 200-year history of aboriginal education in New South Wales…. [Direct]
(2008). Using Technology to Enhance Aboriginal Evaluations. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, v23 n2 p51-72 Aut. With a focus on the use of technology when evaluating programs for Aboriginal people, this article explores the possibility of using visual and oral computer technology to enhance the incorporation of Aboriginal worldviews in program evaluation. The author situates Aboriginal worldviews, including methods of communication and transmission of knowledge, within a unique evaluation framework that also considers Western methods of data collection. Examples of the author's framework are offered in the context of evaluations of Aboriginal programs. Based on her experiences, the author concludes that it is possible to join the traditional knowledge of Aboriginal people with digital technology in program evaluation. (Contains 11 figures and 4 notes.)… [Direct]
(2010). Pathways for Indigenous School Leavers to Undertake Training or Gain Employment. Resource Sheet No. 2. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare The idea of pathways indicates many possible journeys to some destination or outcome. Hence, even if everyone agreed that Indigenous school leavers should be moving towards "productive" employment, it is not easy to talk about "what works" as there are different paths that may suit different people. Indeed given the diverse educational and life experiences of Indigenous people, it would be folly to suggest that there was one path that suits everyone. In any case, as the old joke goes, "the shortest distance between two points is always under construction". This resource sheet focuses on the "detours" that can enhance (or obstruct) the attainment of productive employment outcomes. Authors notes on the pathways for Indigenous school leavers: a journey to where and when? is appended. (Contains 1 chart.) [This paper was produced for the Closing the Gap Clearinghouse.]… [PDF]
(2009). The Location of Knowledge: A Conversation with the Editors on Knowledge, Experience, and Place. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, v55 n3 p335-350 Fall. As co-editors of this theme issue of this journal, the authors have accepted that knowledge systems and teacher education programs are deeply interconnected. Further, they claim that teacher education programs must incorporate in theory and practice the fact that knowledge systems are a determining factor in the effectiveness of a teacher education program. In this article, the authors use the term "knowledge systems" to refer to those systems of knowledge and information that are connected to physical locations or places. The work is a process of conversation as a scholarly endeavor based on the authors' understanding of the importance of dialogue as an educational praxis that takes them into the conflicting and often liminal spaces of identity, inclusivity, bordering, and belonging. Their intention is to provide a critical engagement with these issues through their own experiences and theoretical positions. The authors found after numerous conversations that they were… [Direct]
(2009). Engaging Indigenous Urban Youth in Environmental Learning: The Importance of Place Revisited. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, v14 n1 p59-73. This paper describes the evolution of an environmental learning program for Indigenous, urban youth called Bridging the Gap. A critical pedagogy of place provides a theoretical framework to engage in practitioner-reflection, exploring the decisions made while revising the original program to make it both culturally and ecologically relevant. Using an action research methodology, the practitioner-researcher resolves to continue to seek resolution to relevant aspects of marginalization in attempt to facilitate reinhabitation for Bridging the Gap learners while emphasizing the program's place-specific social, economic, and ecological situatedness. (Contains 2 notes.)… [PDF] [Direct]
(2011). Indigenous Systems within the African-American Community. Multicultural Education, v18 n4 p2-9 Sum. For the African-American family, life ain't been no crystal stair. The African-American family has trotted for over 400 years through a wilderness of racism, poverty, discrimination of all kinds, crossing seas of monsters and forests of demons. Yet, despite the numerous obstacles and attacks that society has mounted against it since slavery, the authors believe that the African-American family has found creative ways to survive, retain some of its African values and structure, and fulfill its functions to this society. By presenting a variety of tools such as statistics, studies, and real-life stories, this article presents culturally compatible frameworks for understanding the delivery of educational, social, and mental health services to African-American families and communities. There are very few, if any, single theoretical models unique to understanding the nature and the complexity of African-American family life. Therefore, the authors offer a combination of Afrocentric and… [PDF] [Direct]
(2007). Disrupting Molded Images: Identities, Responsibilities and Relationships–Teachers and Indigenous Subject Material. Teaching Education, v18 n4 p329-342 Dec. This paper explores the complexities of teachers' understanding of their relationship with Aboriginal people. Drawing on her current work with teachers, the author offers a method for initiating a critical pedagogy of remembrance that allows teachers to attend to and learn from the biography of their relationship with Aboriginal people. The author argues that teachers position themselves as "perfect stranger" to Aboriginal people and explores forms of "ethical learning" which use the act of remembrance to raise awareness of the ways in which the identities of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada have been shaped by the colonial encounter. The construction of this ethical awareness among teachers is a promising way to transform relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada. (Contains 8 notes.)… [Direct]
(2010). The Unfinished Stories of Two First Nations Mothers. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, v53 n5 p408-417 Feb. This study is shaped by an underlying theoretical assumption that literacy is a cultural practice, shaped by and shaping social factors such as culture, gender, politics, and economics. As a result, this article focuses on the literacy practices of two mothers who participated in the study. Because of their Aboriginal ancestry and the historical context of their lives, these two participants fell into a community separate from the larger community being studied. This article underlines how the past experiences and literacy practices of these two mothers has influenced their present literacy practices…. [Direct]